George W Bush

Looking for advice! Bought a £22,500 car and told by salesman that it has had light cosmetic damage, take it to trade it in and told that it has had...new suspension, new chassis legs, new bonnet, 2 wings, whole left hand side resprayed, new rear, and 2 new wheels!!! Oh and also new windscreen...

I bought the car in May and have done 10,000 miles, the dealer has offered me a car to the value of £18,000. I feel that this is a bit unfair as I have been mislead. What should I do??

Does anyone have any legal advice???



[Edited by George W Bush - 1/17/2003 1:20:39 PM]

George W Bush

Are there any dealers on this who could advise??

rmw986

I have heard about this from the club gti forum. Someone brought a MK4 gti from a VW dealer very low mileage etc paid top dollar for it then found out it had been in a smash.

If you cant buy from a dealership with out shafted what hope has anyone got?

Hanley

You could always get the UK to follow your heels and wage war on him for selling cars that were mass destructed!!!

George W Bush

Very good Hanley! Im getting Tony to negotiate (do what I tell him...) Maybe I should get Cherie involved...

marty_t3

Well after my last purchase from a dealer i now consider buying a car from one just a risky as buying one privately. If it wasn't for the warranty on the car i'd have been out of pocket for £1.5k in the first few months.

A car i looked at recently seemed like a good buy until the dealer told me he'd 'misplaced' the cat1 cert and the history he supposedly had for the car. He already had my cheque as deposit so as soon as he mentioned not being able to find the paperwork i cancelled the cheque and told the dealer to call me when he found the paperwork. He hasn't called back.

Crush

That may not be a bad deal, given 10k miles worth of depreciation. A good haggle will easily see a car worth £19k.

What you have to bear in mind though, is how easy it would be to sell the car on to someone else given its history. Would you tell a private buyer that it's been damaged? I'll give you the benefit of the doubt

Fraid, I can't tell you where you stand legally




[Edited by Crush - 1/17/2003 2:02:37 PM]

George W Bush

Thanks crush I see where you are coming from but the car they have offered is a lower spec...mines a 325i sport theyve offered a 325ise and the car is very badly repaired bad panel gaps etc.. (I should have noticed but I just drive the thing!)

Scooby-Doo

8 months and 10,000 miles. I would not be unhappy to only loose 4G. I don't even want to say how much I have lost in 2 years.

What make model of car is it and is 18k an unreasonable price for the dealer to pay.

George W Bush

Its a 2001 BMW (cough!) 325i sport saloon.

bassoctopus

Did you buy it from a manufacturer's main dealer? If so you could report them to the manufacturer, don't mention any names to start with and see what their opinion is.

I was sold an S2000 by a main Honda dealer as a UK car and it turned out to be an parallel import. I spoke to Honda UK and they told me to contact them again if I wasn't given a full refund or a satisfactory replacement. I got a refund in the end, because the dealer knew about it all the time and deliberately mis-sold me the car I refused to buy another car from him.

I mistakenly thought because I was buying from a main dealer that I didn't have to check everything. For instance the one owner I was told about became two.

Make sure you see all the paperwork, I was told on the three weeks up to collecting the S2000, that the V5 / paperwork was in the post and it still wasn't there when I picked up the car. I should have rejected it at this point, and not signed the agreement until everything was in order, but I was so excited about the car that I didn't care at the time.



[Edited by bassoctopus - 1/17/2003 2:32:35 PM]

Crush

I was assuming it was an impreza

Seriously though, I imagine the miles & repairs would bring the price down by a fe £K I'm not sure if i would buy a car that was previously crashed (regardless of how well it was repaired)

George W Bush

Thanks all it was bought from an official BMW dealer. It's not nice thinking that someone has been through the windscreen. Also forgot to mention that the dash display has started playing up too!

Scooby-Doo

Just had a quick look on the Parkers guide, which certainly has my RB5 resale value wrong, but I think if you get between 19 and 20 it seems about right. Are you trading the car in at the dealer that sold you the car ? If so try getting a written quote of their purchase price (and what damage they see on the car), you may then be able to use this against them when arguing over the dog they sold you. I think there is a law that a dealer must disclose any information regarding a car they are selling that may have a bearing on the price. You will have to prove they knew, the letter may help.

Good luck

George W Bush

When I purchased the car the paperwork had no mention of any damage although the salesman did say it was light cosmetic. The car was £400 cheaper because of this, when I took it to trade it in at a Subaru dealer they offered me 14,000 for it....and pointed out all the repair work...

Vate

Mate of mine bought a 97 Golf VR6 from a main dealer about 2yrs ago. After 12mths, when it went in for a service he found a huge receipt in the name of the supplying garage, 6 pages long with £5.5k of repairs!
The fact was that at the time of purchase he asked the question "What is the car's history?" and the dealer told him it had been owned by the service manager for the last year and was fastidiously maintained at no expense spared etc. Thing was the repair had been carried out 1 month before he bought the car. Bottom line the dealer sold the vehicle without full disclosure of the car's history. On being confronted with the facts the principal dealer returned his original deposit and wrote off the remaining finance (£6k). The funniest thing of all? It was back on the forecourt a week later for £8.5k!

Dream Weaver

Hi Mark, if I were you I would throw the book at them. I'm sure you should be able to do something about it, though knowing car dealers it will probably be your word against theirs.

Main dealer as well - tsk!!

Hope you're well? (Other than car probs )

Simon

George W Bush

Hello Simon hope all is going well for you! I think I should get my money back and buy a P1.... I would really like some (free) legal advice!

[Edited by George W Bush - 1/17/2003 2:51:18 PM]

Glenn_R

Aren't all 2nd hand BM's from main dealers supposed to be "Approved Used Cars" that have to undergo some 120 point check, etc. before being sold? Personally I feel the salesman has lied to you as he/she would have been fully aware of its full repair history if these checks had taken place.

Personally I would take thae matter up with BMW UK as I'm sure they'd love to hear about it!!

UKType

I had a similar problem with a Porsche 966 I bought although involved a lot more money and the car was only 6 months old. Found out 3 months later that it had had new bonnet, front and had nearside respray as well which when examined by an expert was not up to Porsche standard. Went back to the Porsche Dealer who had given me the 84 point check pre-delivery document and pointed out that it had been ticked on the external bodywork section. I got a report from another official dealer and then sent them a legal letter which basically accused them of witholding information which if known would have lowered the valuation of the vehicle. End result was a full refund which I was happy with but fully agree that just because you buy it from a dealer doesnt guarantee it hasnt been in an accident after all they are private companies independant to the vehicle supplier.

camk

The other issue you have now is that you know about the damage and ARE by law required to notify any private seller if they ask. If you didn't know then your could pass it on and if later challenged use the Dealer as your reference plus your no claims to show no accident whilst you were the owner, you can only disclose what you know.

Regards
Cammy

chris singleton

Always check the V5 when buying a car from a dealer now matter how reputable you think they are.

A frient bought an Audi TT very soon after they were first released and was told it had 1 previous owner, turned out that he was the third which wasn't picked up until trade in time.

Chris